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San Jose State vs. Fresno State: Three Keys to a Spartan Victory
Will the Spartans pick up there first win on the road in over 2 seasons?
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The Spartans head into their final week of the season with a tough matchup on the road in Fresno. The Bulldogs have been one of the strongest teams in the conference all season and when your team has not won a road game in over two years, you will have to be playing your best football. With starting QB Josh Love out last week the Spartan defense kept San Jose in the game but ultimately they were not able to get enough done on the offensive side. The Spartans will need to achieve these 3 keys if they want to walk away from this season with a win:
Control the line of scrimmage:
When Fresno has the ball it will be a battle of seniors on the line as Fresno has 4 senior offensive linemen and San Jose has a couple of senior leaders on the defensive line. The Spartan defense will have to have another great performance all around but especially up front as it will be important that San Jose wins in the trenches and forces Fresno State to become one dimensional. If San Jose can stop the run and force the Bulldogs to pass along with getting pressure on Marcus McMaryion the Spartans may have a chance. In addition, the Spartans will need to protect up front as to many times this season Josh Love has taken big hits. One of the weaknesses of the Spartans all season has been there offensive line, but they will need to have a great game if San Jose is going to pull off the upset.
Convert on 3rd down:
On the season San Jose has only converted on 32.94 % of 3rd downs. Surpringsly the Spartans are ranked 43rd in success rate for 3rd and medium, as for 3rd and short and 3rd and long it is a different story as San Jose is ranked 82nd and 111th in success rate. The 111th in 3rd and short is most likely apart of a much larger story of the Spartans not being able to establish an effective run game. Although if the Spartans want to win this week they will have to convert on the majority of 3rd downs to keep drives sustained and stay in the game. If the Spartans have multiple 3 and outs early in the game, it could turn into a blowout pretty quickly in Fresno.
Win the turnover battle:
Winning the turnover battle has probably been a key in over half of the 3 keys for a Spartan victory this season, but with it being such a problem last year it really needed to be stressed. On the season, the Spartans are at an even 0 in turnovers which has them ranked 70th overall in the nation which is an improvement over last season. The Bulldogs have been one the best in the nation in forcing turnovers as they currently sit at +15 in the turnover margin which ranks 3rd in the FBS. The Spartans once again will need to create additional opportunities for an inconsistent offense that is only averaging 22 points per game.
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